Where one would expect to see a gendered label for a bathroom on the fourth floor of Helen C. White Hall, a piece of paper that reads “gender diversity is welcome here” is taped in its place.
Signs like these may start appearing next to more bathrooms around campus as a template created by the LGBT Campus Center begins to circulate. The model form has been posted on the newly updated LGBTCC website since late February. It goes along with other content on a page that details restroom practices and lists single-stall restrooms around campus.
Interim Associate Director of the LGBTCC Katherine Charek Briggs said the template, which was shared on the LGBTCC Facebook page after it was published, reached 3,000 people and was shared by several individuals.
Charek Briggs said they have worked with numerous campus departments who have been interested in posting these signs next to bathroom doors in their offices or buildings—including members of the School of Library and Information Studies who were responsible for the sign in Helen C. White.
“It's really important that when folks are putting signs up in their building that they have a conversation with the whole staff that is responsible for that space about what the signs are for, why they’re important and how they’re going to advocate for students if there’s conflict,” Charek Briggs said. “We want to make sure that what the signs are promising is something we can deliver.”
While individuals like Charek Briggs and other LGBTCC representatives educate campus groups about the meaning of the signs, UW-Madison Facilities Planning and Management also receives requests to address the issue, according to FPM Communications Director Steve Wagner.
He said the division has been conducting research and analysis “to make recommendations that would lead to a campus-wide plan.” They receive requests from departments and units throughout UW-Madison to renovate or “re-sign” gender-inclusive bathrooms. According to Wagner, there are a number of factors they look at upon accepting requests.
“In the last couple of years these requests have become more frequent and it’s really a campus-wide issue,” Wagner said. “We're stepping back from that and doing some larger-scale analysis so that we can provide some coherent recommendations to the university administration so they can create a campus-wide policy that is coherent and … can apply to all the buildings on campus.”
He said one of the factors they must take into account is adhering to the building codes of requesting facilities. Each building is limited to a certain number of bathrooms and the type of bathroom, as well fixtures within bathrooms, are regulated and vary by the size and occupancy level of each facility.
Charek Briggs said in order to put these practices in place a committee has been established, of which they have a seat on, to gather recommendations on restroom use and provisions on campus.
“It's not a need that's going away,”
